English

On the mean values of the error terms in Mertens' theorems

Number Theory 2025-06-25 v2

Abstract

For i{1,2,3}i\in \{1,2,3\}, let Ei(x)E_i(x) denote the error term in each of the three theorems of Mertens on the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. We show that for i{1,2}i\in \{1,2\} the Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to the condition 2XEi(x)dx>0\int_2^X E_i(x) \:\mathrm{d}x>0 for all X>2X>2, and we examine assumptions under which the equivalence also holds for i=3i=3. In addition, we extend our results to analogues of Mertens' theorems concerning prime sums twisted by quadratic Dirichlet characters or restricted to arithmetic progressions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2411.18903,
  title  = {On the mean values of the error terms in Mertens' theorems},
  author = {Tianyu Zhao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.18903},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

23 pages; accepted version